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Once introductions were done, André held up a hand. “We don’t have a lot of time,” he said when everyone had gathered round. “I figured you’d want some questions answered.”
“And maybe you’d answer a few of ours,” Cardozo added. “Quid pro quo, you know.”
“You first,” Burke said, his expression wary.
André shook his head with a chuckle. “Fine, fine. Good to know that some things never change. Okay, so... Cresswell was released.” He held up his hand at the gasps of outrage. “He’s been put on administrative leave.”
“With pay?” Willa Mae asked with a scowl.
“Yes, ma’am,” André said. “For now. We’ve had our eye on him for a while, so don’t get upset just yet. You, of all people, know that these things take time.”
“Didn’t take you long to arrest Ducote,” Antoine said, arms crossed over his chest.
“That’s because we were already investigating him,” Cardozo said. “I was already investigating him. I took this assignment primarily to go undercover at the DA’s office. I’ve been working with the state justice department for the past three months, gathering intel on Ducote. We didn’t know about any of this murder business, though. We were looking at him for possible extortion and bribes.”
“He had a list in the safe in his home office,” André added. “We found it last night. Over two dozen names of people he’d enabled to escape a criminal charge. Everything from murder to child—” He broke it off, looking over his shoulder to make sure Harper couldn’t overhear. Luckily, Lucien had given her his headphones and she was playing a game on her tablet. “To the sexual assault of a child,” André went on, lowering his voice. “Anyway, he’d been extorting favors from these people for years.”
“Tyson Whitley,” Molly said, “and George Haslet.” The man who’d killed Xavier’s intruder in the Houston hospital and the man whose car Ducote stole the morning he killed Mule. “He got their charges dropped?”
“Exactly,” André said. “Two other names on that list were Cornell Eckert and LeRoy Hodges, the attorney who was representing him. The ME who did Rocky’s autopsy was on the list, too. We picked up both the ME and the attorney and will question them. The FBI took over Eckert’s case, as they’d been watching him for a while. They’re hoping to close several cases with what they found when they searched his home.”
“Hold on,” Molly said, wanting to be clear. “You were investigating Ducote for abuse of power?”
“Yes,” Cardozo said. “When Houston PD showed Whitley his name on Ducote’s list—all the other names redacted, of course—he took a deal in exchange for admitting to being blackmailed into killing the man in the hospital. Ducote didn’t tell him who the man was or why he needed to be killed, and Whitley didn’t ask.”
“What kind of deal?” Xavier asked tightly.
“Death penalty off the table,” Cardozo said. “Whitley will serve time, though. No way around that.”
“Is my son in danger from any of them?” Cicely asked.
“No, ma’am,” André said. “Not as far as we know. We’ll make sure you’re kept up-to-date on everything that happens. Houston PD still wants to talk to Xavier, but I don’t expect Willa Mae will let them badger him too much.”
“Not while I live and breathe,” Willa Mae declared.
“They were a little put off that you were his counsel,” André said with a smile. “You’ve got a reputation.”
Willa Mae lifted her wineglass. “Every bit of it earned.”
“I will not disagree with that,” André said respectfully. “So that was why Ducote was being investigated. When his assistant went missing, J.P. alerted us.”
“Who’s J.P.?” Carlos asked.
“That’s me,” Cardozo said. “Most folks call me J.P., because my name is Jean-Pierre. Ducote insisted on calling me by my full name and he always made it sound like it tasted bad in his mouth.”
“The dead woman in the bayou was his assistant?” Burke asked.
Cardozo nodded. “Ashley Resnick. She was young and brash and...” He sighed. “Ducote was a charmer. He set his hook and reeled her in.”
“She was responsible for her own actions,” Val said with uncharacteristic venom.
Molly blinked, as did Burke.
Cardozo’s gaze flew to Val, lingering for a moment before he nodded again. “You’re quite right, Miss Sorensen. Ashley Resnick was responsible for her actions, and she paid dearly for her mistake. We don’t know exactly why Ducote killed her. I imagine she caught wind of some part of his scheme. I don’t think she was a lawbreaker, but she was very naive.”
“CSU found traces of blood in the washroom off Ducote’s office,” André said. “We found a cleaver in the trunk of that stolen car. We believe he dismembered her right there in the washroom.”
Antoine grimaced. “Goddammit, André.”
